WAB Revs Up for F1 in Schools

On Saturday, May 24 from 2 to 4pm, the Western Academy of Beijing will host China’s national F1 in Schools competition. But some of the students don’t even have their driver’s license, so how is this possible? It’s possible because students will be racing as part of F1 in Schools, a highly technical after school activity, in which WAB students design, build, and race small wooden cars.

WAB’s team, Horse Power, will compete with the Experimental High School Associated with Beijing Normal University at the event as a way to prepare for 2014 F1 in Schools World Finals, an annual international competition. This year, team Horse Power Horse will represent China at the competition in Abu Dhabi.

F1 in Schools is a global multi-disciplinary challenge in which teams are composed of students ages 9 to 19. The annual competition has students representing a total of 40 countries. Teams are asked to deploy CAD (computer aided design) and CAM (computer aided manufacturing) software to collaborate, design, analyze, manufacture, test, and then race miniature balsa wood F1 cars powered by compressed air. WAB students from grade 7, 8, and 9 have created business plans, developed designs, manufactured, and will race their cars, similar to teams in professional Formula 1 auto racing.

The previous world finals have taken place in such locations as Kuala Lumpur, London, Singapore, and Austin, Texas. Celebrity Formula 1 racers and a swath of media organizations attend the global competition each year. Students in attendance not only get the opportunity to race their cars and test their designs against their peers from around the world, but they also gain exposure to professional engineering designs.

Students have been working since January as team managers, co- team managers, graphic designers, resource managers, manufacturers, and communications representatives. Horse Power will be the team representing China at the 2014 F1 in Schools World Finals. This is the eighth year that the Western Academy of Beijing will send a team to the finals.

This free event is open to the public and will be held in WAB’s HUB gym. Click here for more information about F1 in Schools.